The Truth Comes Out
by rmlohner
Summary: After learning the truth about Rose Quartz, Steven knows there's another person who should be told.
1. Chapter 1

It was late at night as Steven snuck down into the Burning Room. After a hectic week where everyone had at least begun to come to terms with the truth about Rose Quartz, aka Pink Diamond, he realized there was someone else who deserved to be told about it. And he knew if he discussed the idea with any of the Crystal Gems, they'd try to talk him out of it, saying it was too dangerous, so here he was without anyone knowing. It was a risk, no question, but his conscience just wouldn't let him rest with the task still undone.

Luckily, there was no need to search through all the bubbled gems, as this particular guest was held in her own special place, where any interference would be instantly noticed. So in the best case scenario, he'd still be in big trouble very quickly, which he tried not to think about as he climbed up to where Jasper was kept.

The other risk he was running was his theory not panning out. Even after what had happened with Centipeedle, he'd hoped that being able to catch the corruption so soon after it started would allow his healing powers to fix it for good, and from what he understood of the process, Jasper's being held in perfect stasis all this time should mean it would still work, if it was actually true.

Once in position, he jumped out, using just a big of his floating power to get to the right position. Finally the moment was here, and there was no turning back, so he took a deep breath and released the captive gem.

Just like with Centipeedle, there was a brief moment where the corrupted Jasper was completely disoriented upon being released, when he could approach her and slap on some of his saliva. Upon that being done, he quickly backed away as she became a bright light, which slowly changed shape. Steven's heart soared as it turned fully into Jasper's true form; he'd been right! And then he remembered that next would come the really hard part.

Jasper's eyes immediately scanned around the room once she regained consciousness, and quickly fixed on Steven. Pure rage engulfed her face as she bellowed "ROSE!" and raced toward him. Steven quickly activated his bubble and bounced away, shouting "Please, I just want to talk!"

Jasper turned around, and seemed to truly take in her surroundings for the first time. "What is this perversion? It's not enough that you refuse your enemies an honorable death, but then you keep them for harvesting? And you called us cruel."

Steven kept the bubble up as he finished his bounce. "It's nothing like that, but that's not important right now. Look, just think for a second. Why would I let you out, and heal you?"

Jasper scoffed. "I learned a long time ago not to worry about why someone like you does anything. The only thing that matters is giving you what you deserve." She launched at him in a spin attack, to which he hopped up to higher ground.

"Here, just look at this!" Steven lifted up his shirt. "Even a Ruby I met once could tell there was something strange about my gem, and that's because it's not a Rose Quartz."

That finally brought Jasper up short. "What do you mean?"

Steven took another deep breath. "I know this will be hard to believe, but it's a Pink Diamond."

Jasper's jaw worked silently for a few seconds, then she glared at him with disdain. "How dare you desecrate her memory like that?" she yelled as she started climbing up. However, this time Steven didn't move, and when she reached him he looked her right in the eyes as he lowered the bubble.

"I hoped it wouldn't have to be this way, but all right. There's one way I can prove it to you: poof me."

Steven barely had time to think at all about what he was doing before Jasper's helmet appeared and came crashing down on his head, which was probably for the best. As the usual smoke cleared she looked down with satisfaction at the gem left behind…until it rolled onto its side and revealed its true shape.

Horror stole over Jasper's face as she tried to take the sight in. Then the Diamond started to roll off the side, and she instinctively grabbed it and jumped back to the floor, where she continued staring at it. "How would she…why would she…this doesn't make any sense!" She went to the wall and started punching it in her frustration, but was interrupted by more voices.

"Okay Steven, if this is about freeing more mutants…" Pearl's voice cut off as she and the other Crystal Gems entered the room. A split second after taking in the sight of a free and healed Jasper, her eyes went to the gem on the floor. "MY BABY!" she shrieked and dove for it.

And with that, suddenly Jasper knew what she had to do. Whatever was going on here could wait, and all that mattered now was protecting her Diamond. She reached the gem just before Pearl and shouted "Don't you touch her!" as she cradled it to her chest. She eyed each of the Crystal Gems in turn as she went on, "I won't fail her again. I'll take you all on!"

The first one to deal with was Pearl, who she easily got past after a few dodges of her spear. Then Amethyst threw a whip around her arm, but Jasper simply yanked her off her feet and backhanded her without breaking stride. Finally there was Garnet, but the increased stakes compared to their last fight lent Jasper a whole new ferocity as she sidestepped every attack and even with only one free arm landed some monster hits of her own. At last she had a free path to the door, and activated her spin attack to race out before they could regroup.

The Crystal Gems were left to stare in disbelief, none of them having any idea what to do from here.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Wow, guys. None of my other stories have come close to the reaction this one got. It's actually quite a humbling thing to realize that, as far as I can tell, I'm the first one to do a story about Jasper's reaction to the big reveal. Upon seeing the episode, I thought for sure there would be a ton of fics within hours, but I guess everyone's still just busy processing the whole thing._

 _A few of you have brought up that Steven is half human and shouldn't poof, so here's my reasoning: it's been made clear several times on the show that there's never been a Gem/human hybrid before, so everyone's flying blind regarding the "rules" of Steven and having to find out through simple trial and error. And one thing they still haven't gone through is his suffering an injury that would be fatal to a human, so for a while now my thinking has been that while most injuries affect him just like a human, something like Jasper's helmet crushing his skull would cause the poofing to kick in. Of course, Steven himself didn't know this, so it was an incredibly brave thing to open himself up for it once it was clear there was no other way Jasper would believe him._

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Steven's memories of just what it had been like inside his gem began to fade the instant he found himself awake again, just like a dream. The first thing he noticed was an odd feeling in his stomach, so he rolled up his shirt and found that his mother's gem was now rotated the proper way, clearly displaying that it was actually a Diamond. And now that he thought of it, it was a bit disturbing to think that until now he'd spent his whole life with a sharp point deep in his guts. He wondered if there had been any other changes, but as he looked around he saw he was in a cave with no mirrors available.

That was all the time he had to think on it, as Jasper bounded into the area. She quickly crossed her arms in the Gem salute, which didn't seem like it should be possible with how muscular they were, and then added a step new to Steven as she sank to her knees and prostrated herself, touching her forehead to the ground.

Still in that position, she said, "My Diamond, I think I understand now. Somehow you escaped Rose, and the corruption attack, but with your army gone you had to hide. But then you found a way to take them down from the inside. You must have thought I'd be smart enough to realize it, but I'm afraid I didn't, and so I committed an unforgivable act." She choked back a sob, quite a startling sound from her usual deep, confident voice. "I disgraced myself by attacking my Diamond, and I am ready for the consequences." She looked up, tears flooding down her face.

Steven was utterly taken aback by the display. Where could he start in responding to it? He decided not to start with words, but instead laying a comforting hand on Jasper's shoulder. She looked up at him in shock. "Why are you delaying this? We both know it's the proper thing to do."

Steven shook his head. "Nothing you just said is how it happened. I can explain it to you, at least what I know, but please, stop crying first."

Jasper now just looked confused. "How do I stop it? This has never happened before, not even when I thought you were gone. I just focused on being angry and never had time to feel this way."

Steven sighed. "I guess you'll just have to keep going until you've let it all out. Just keep in mind, you're not in trouble for this. Maybe a lot of other things, but this I'll give you a pass for."

They sat there a while longer, and finally the tears subsided. "All right," Steven said. "The first thing you need to know is that I'm not Rose Quartz, but I'm not Pink Diamond either. It's kind of hard to explain, but she sort of turned into me, but I'm different. I don't have her memories, and I can't tell you what she was really thinking about anything. My name's Steven."

Jasper's confused look hadn't let up at all. "This still makes no sense to me."

"All right, I guess I should start at the beginning, but like I said, this is all just stuff I found out, and some of it could even be wrong."

Steven went through the whole story of Pink Diamond faking her death and becoming Rose Quartz, her life on Earth with the Crystal Gems, and finally the Ballad of Greg and Rose. By the end, Jasper seemed to have some understanding of it, but she still just sat there a while longer to take it in. At last she asked him, "My Diamond lied to me, and everyone else?"

Steven couldn't meet her eyes. "I've had to face up to her not being as perfect as I thought, believe me. It was hard to accept. But I do think she meant well with all of it. She just wanted to protect a planet she loved."

Some anger was now creeping into Jasper's eyes. "But what am I supposed to do with this? I spent so long wanting to avenge her death, and now I find out none of it meant anything? Can you possibly realize what that's like?"

"I can't tell you that, and I'm sorry this is happening. All we can both do is keep going and do our best with what our lives are like now."

Jasper laughed bitterly. "And to think I spent the last two days expecting to get shattered once you came back. That would have been better than this."

Steven quickly picked up on the important part of that thought. "WHAT? Two days?"

"Yes, that's how long it's been since…I attacked you." It still seemed to physical pain her to say it.

"But everyone will be worried sick! I have to get back! Where's the nearest warp pad?"

"Pretty far. This is a place I hid out for a while after I lost Lapis, and it seemed like the safest place to come."

Steven started frantically pacing. "This is bad, this is so, so bad. Okay, Jasper, I really hate to ask you this with all you're going through, but could you bring me back?"

Jasper thought it over. "Can we talk about this again later? I'm not nearly done with you."

"Okay, anything! Just bring me back!"

"All right, then." Jasper picked him up almost as easily as when he'd just been a gem, and went into her spinning maneuver, rocketing out of the cave as fast as she could go.


	3. Chapter 3

Steven was clutching his stomach as Jasper came out of the spin next to a wrap pad. "Next time I ask you to do that, please don't," he said, but was surprised when Jasper had no response, not even one that showed she didn't understand the joke. She was simply looking off at nothing at particular. So he went on, "I'd better go over by myself first and explain things. You just wait here for a bit, and I'll come get you if they're okay with it. All right?" She still didn't give any acknowledgment that he'd spoken, so he simply shrugged and stepped onto the pad.

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Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl despondently trudged back up the path to the Temple after two days in a row of fruitlessly searching everywhere they could. Though none of them would admit it, they were all thinking they might actually never see Steven again, and couldn't begin to deal with the emotions that thought brought up.

But it didn't last any longer, because no sooner had they walked in the door than the house's warp pad activated and Steven came running out. "Guys, I'm back!" he shouted, and the three Gems all incoherently shouted out their joy as they ran to each other. But there wasn't time for more than that, because Jasper followed right behind him.

"Jasper, I told you to…" Steven was cut off there as Pearl gave a furious "You!" and charged at her, with Amethyst and Garnet close behind. However, they were brought up short as they took in the Gem's full appearance.: head bowed, shoulders slumped, and not making a single move to defend herself.

She looked up in surprise at their pause and said, "Go ahead, do it. Nothing matters anymore. I don't matter. So just shatter me, I won't stop you."

None of them moved a muscle or said a word as the shock of that statement hit them. But soon Steven came running up. "You can't mean that!"

Jasper turned to him, and the sheer loss on her face was terrible to behold. "For thousands of years, the only thing that's kept me going was the idea of revenge, and now I find out it was all a lie. So what is there left for me? It's better if it ends right now."

This caused Pearl to chime in. "I've had that same thought." She completely ignored Steven's surprised interjection as she went on, "I had to keep the secret all these centuries, and sometimes it was so painful I thought it would be better to just be shattered. But I always found a reason to keep going, and I'm glad I did, because there was a lot of good to experience too."

Jasper scoffed. "Because you had all these other Gems around you. But I'm alone, everyone I could have had to help me is gone because all I cared about was that lie."

Now it was Amethyst's turn. "Why don't you come with us?" As everyone looked at her in surprise, she said, "I mean, you're from this planet, and you said before you wanted to protect it. You just had the wrong idea about who you needed to protect it from."

Jasper turned away from them all. "It would never work. I did so much to hurt you all, and Peridot…" she shuddered as a new thought hit her, "…and Lapis. You're really able to just forgive all that?"

The Crystal Gems all glanced at each other, gauging their reactions. Then Garnet walked around and looked Jasper in the eyes. "I'm willing to give it a chance. So that's two votes for you."

Amethyst quickly jumped in. "We're sisters, after all."

Pearl took a bit longer, but finally said, "If they're all okay with it, then I guess I am too."

Steven walked right up to Jasper and said, "So what do you say?" When she still didn't give a reply, he got an idea and started singing, one that Garnet had taught him a while back and seemed to fit the current situation with just a few changes.

 _This is who we are_

 _This is who I am_

 _And if you think anything's the same now_

 _Then you need to think again_

 _Because I am a feeling_

 _And I will never end_

 _And I will let you help my planet_

 _And I will let you be my friend_

Jasper had tears in her eyes by the time he finished. "Well, how can I say no to all that? I guess I can try it out." She was then surprised when Steven jumped up and hugged her, quickly followed by Amethyst. "What is this? What's going on?"

Steven laughed. "I guess you have a few things to learn about how we do things on Earth now. It can wait until tomorrow."

After the hug broke off, Amethyst elbowed Steven and said, "By the way, love the new look." Steven gasped, having completely forgotten he might look different after being poofed, and ran into the bathroom. He found that his hair now had orange stripes through it. Amethyst waited by the door and said, "I guess Tiger Millionaire really rubbed off on you."

Steven laughed again. "It'll make things easier if we ever do a comeback, I guess." He came back out, and they looked to where Jasper was now talking with Pearl and Jasper, although they were a bit far away to hear it. "This is going to be pretty interesting, huh?"

"Definitely. Though you think you could give us some warning the next time you decide to let someone out of a bubble? We were all really worried about you?"

Steven blushed and looked away. "I'm really sorry about that. I guess I have to tell them that, too." Suddenly a new idea occurred to him. "But now that you mention it, there is someone else who we should tell about Mom. Although this one might be even harder."

Amethyst looked at him in shock. "You don't mean…"

"Yes I do. We need to tell Bismuth."

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 _A/N: I originally intended to end the story here, but it's gotten such a huge response that I've decided to keep going with it, hence that little tease. It might be a little while before I actually get the next part posted, seeing as I have to actually come up with an idea of how Bismuth would react, but I'm definitely going to be keeping to it being a lot harder sell with her._


	4. Chapter 4

Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet shared one more apprehensive look before Amethyst pulled out her whip and dragged down Bismuth's bubble. They'd decided together with Steven that the sheer unpredictability of how Bismuth would react to the truth about Rose meant it would be best if he wasn't there when they broke the news (which of course went double for Jasper). Steven didn't like it, but he quickly realized the wisdom of it and agreed.

They'd said all they needed to before going forward, so not another word was exchanged as Garnet popped the bubble. After the usual light show, Bismuth reformed in what the Gems realized must be the same position she had when poofed, stoically standing up with her eyes closed. They barely had time to notice her change of clothes, now worryingly ragged, before she opened her eyes and darted her head around. After a couple seconds she noticed the Gems and gazed at them with a somber expression. "Oh, I see. How long has it been this time?"

Pearl struggled to keep her tone as gentle as possible. "Just a few months."

Bismuth was surprised at that. "Steven said he was going to tell you everything. And just looking in his eyes, I knew he was telling the truth."

Garnet stepped forward. "Yes, we know it all. And while I can't say any of us approve, we do understand. And we let you out because something's just recently come to light that you deserve to know, and might help you make more sense of all this."

Bismuth frowned in confusion. "Okay, I'll hear this out."

Pearl still wasn't used to her mouth no longer disobeying her when she tried to talk about this, after Steven's attempt to take the order back actually worked. "This isn't going to be easy for you to hear. I suppose the first thing to say is that I wasn't the renegade Pearl you all thought I was. I did have an owner for a while: Pink Diamond."

Bismuth's eyes widened. "And you were able to get away from her? That's incredible! Why wouldn't you want to tell any of us about it?"

Pearl continued the story, stopping a few times when she was sure Bismuth would interrupt. But it never happened, though she did start noticeably quivering, clearly putting tremendous effort into not saying anything until she heard the whole thing. Once it was over, that changed.

"So it was all just some game," she muttered in a quiet but terrifying tone. "All those Gems shattered, all the suffering we went through, just so a Diamond could do what she wanted, like everything else on Homeworld."

Pearl quickly put in, "No, there was much more to it than that-"

"Was there? Don't forget, I worked for Pink Diamond too. I saw how cruel she could be with my own eyes. And then-" Bismuth gave a dark chuckle. "You're right, it does make more sense now. Of course she wouldn't want any Homeworld Gems shattered, because she was one of them! And she knew if she told the others what really happened between us, someone in the Crystal Gems wouldn't accept it. Maybe even all of them would start asking questions she couldn't afford. So she just hid me away and forgot all about me. Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong!"

Garnet said, "We can't know anything for sure about why she did any of it. And believe me, I understand how angry you are. I split apart when I first found out. But I do believe she was sincere about wanting to change the Gem she'd been, and be better. And there was so much good that came out of it."

Bismuth turned with a venomous stare. "And do you think if you told that to all those broken shards on the battlefield, they'd understand? I spent centuries slaving away for upper crust Gems, building everything they told me to until I felt like dropping and never getting up. And it turns out I never actually stopped doing it, and then when I wasn't useful to Pink Diamond anymore, she just got rid of me! All while she had the nerve to waltz around pretending she'd been through the same thing as all of us!"

Pearl spoke up again. "I saw how terrible she felt about all of it. It wasn't a lie! Maybe she could have done some things differently, but neither of us could see how at the time."

"Neither of you…" Bismuth suddenly paused, and looked again at Pearl with…sympathy? Pearl was quite confused by the sudden mood shift and waited for her to continue. "Oh, I think I get it now. You never even realized it, did you? She never freed you!"

Whatever Pearl had been expecting, that was far from it. "What are you talking about?" she said, unable to keep some of her own anger out of her voice."

Bismuth retained that infuriating placating tone. "Just think about it. Pearls are supposed to be completely devoted to their owner, and follow every order without a single thought of their own. Well, who told you should be a soldier? And I remember seeing the two of you in action; how many times did you sacrifice yourself to take a hit meant for her? And even now, you're still following what she said, without ever questioning it, and you're completely devoted to her even in her new form. Does that sound familiar?"

Pearl opened her mouth to retort, but found herself with no idea what to say. She silently kept trying for a few more moments, and then ran out without every getting anything out.

Amethyst had remained silent until now, letting the old comrades talk this one out. But now she was driven to say, "Do you really think that's true, Bismuth?"

The blacksmith grunted, "It all fits, doesn't it?"

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As Pearl came into the living room, Steven jumped from his bed and asked, "So how'd it go?" However, Pearl found she could barely even look at him right now. Even with her inexperience with eating, she was pretty sure what she was feeling right now was close to how Steven had always described nausea.

Feeling guilty that it was all she could do, she simply told him "I'll be back soon!" and ran out the door.

She needed someone she could really talk to about this, and right now no one in her usual circle seemed like a good candidate. Even Garnet would probably not be much help with how she was still digesting her own feelings toward Rose. But then she got an idea, and pulled her cell phone out of her gem.

"Hello?" came the voice on the other end.

"Sheena, can I come over?"


End file.
